problem starting wlan automatically [SOLVED]

[menschmeier]

Hello,

my WLAN (centino laptop, ipw2100 driver) is running well, but I have a problem starting it automatically while booting. So when the system is up I have to call a script to configure the wireless nic:
/usr/sbin/iwconfig eth1 essid MYESSID
/usr/sbin/iwconfig eth1 nick MYNICKNAME
/usr/sbin/iwconfig eth1 key s:MYPASSWD

after doing this everything is alright:
eth1 IEEE 802.11b ESSID:"MYESSID" Nickname:"MYNICKNAME"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.437 GHz Access Point: 00:A0:C5:60:D9:07
Bit Rate=11 Mb/s Tx-Power=32 dBm
Retry:on RTS thr=2304 B Fragment thr:off
Encryption key:636F-5B65-346D-6561-6E64-3475-33 Security mode:restricted
Power Management:off
Link Quality=100/100 Signal level=-46 dBm Noise level=-256 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

So tried then to configure the /etc/conf.d/wireless:
essid_eth1="MYESSID"
mode_eth1="managed"
iwconfig_eth1="essid MYESSID"
key_wireless="636F-5B65-346D-6561-6E64-3475-33"

But this didn't work. I tried a lot but now I am clueless.

Thanx for any hint

[Keiss]

Hi,
what exactly happens when you run /etc/init.d/net.eth1 start ?

Keiss

[menschmeier]

Hi,

the interface eth1 will be started correctly with the call /etc/init.d/net.eth1 start. I gets its IP address and so, I do not use DHCP but static IP.

When the system is up I got the following:
# ifconfig
eth1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:0C:F1:00:52:9A
inet addr:192.168.0.23 Bcast:192.168.0.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
UP BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:1
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)
Interrupt:5 Base address:0xe000 Memory:d0200000-d0200fff


# iwconfig
eth1 IEEE 802.11b ESSID:"" Nickname:"ipw2100"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.412 GHz Access Point: 00:00:00:00:00:00
Bit Rate=0 kb/s Tx-Power=32 dBm
Retry:on RTS thr=2304 B Fragment thr:off
Encryption key:off
Power Management:off
Link Quality:0 Signal level:0 Noise level:0
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

Later I have to call my script to set iwconfig the right way. It seems that /etc/conf.d/wireless is never called ...

[Keiss]

the interface eth1 will be started correctly with the call /etc/init.d/net.eth1 start. I gets its IP address and so, I do not use DHCP but static IP.
...
Later I have to call my script to set iwconfig the right way. It seems that /etc/conf.d/wireless is never called ...

Well , i have the ipw220 and running the unstable baselayout (thi package includes the init scripts and configs for wireless/network cards ) , the only thing i set is the preferred_aps=("ESS1" "ESS2") and it runs ok, hope it helps , other than that i am clueless too . Good luck.

Keiss

[UberLord]

So tried then to configure the /etc/conf.d/wireless:
essid_eth1="MYESSID"
mode_eth1="managed"
iwconfig_eth1="essid MYESSID"
key_wireless="636F-5B65-346D-6561-6E64-3475-33"

This config may be better

Code: Select all

key_MYESSID="636F-5B65-346D-6561-6E64-3475-33"
preferred_aps=( "MYESSID" )

But then, your ESSID may be "wireless", in which case

Code: Select all

key_wireless="636F-5B65-346D-6561-6E64-3475-33"
preferred_aps=( "wireless" )

But this didn't work. I tried a lot but now I am clueless.

Maybe if you posted the error of it not working we could help.

[AbieS]

Hi,

I've recently installed gentoo on my HP / Compaq nx9110 laptop with a Broadcom BCM4306 wireless nic. I am using ndiswrapper and Windows driver and have emerged baselayout-1.11.8
I seem to have the same problem as menschmeier. If I try to start my wireless I get the following:

Code: Select all

asterix ~ # /etc/init.d/net.wlan0 start
 * Starting wlan0
 *    Configuring wireless network for wlan0
 *       wlan0 connected to "Abie Home Lan" at 00:12:17:C8:76:26
 *       in managed mode (WEP enabled - restricted)
 *    Bringing up wlan0
 *       192.168.1.91                                                                               [ !! ]

After running this I can sart the connection manually with

Code: Select all

asterix ~ # ifconfig wlan0 up
asterix ~ # route add default gw 192.168.1.1

and everything is OK.

It seems that the /etc/conf.d/wireless gets read and processed because running iwconfig after attempting the automatic start (and before manually bringing the interface up) produce the following:

Code: Select all

asterix ~ # iwconfig
lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

wlan0     IEEE 802.11g  ESSID:"Abie Home Lan"  Nickname:"Abie Home Lan"
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.462 GHz  Access Point: 00:12:17:C8:76:26
          Bit Rate=54 Mb/s   Tx-Power:24 dBm
          RTS thr=2347 B   Fragment thr=2346 B
          Encryption key:35AD-FB9C-08   Security mode:restricted
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality:100/100  Signal level:-63 dBm  Noise level:-256 dBm
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:35  Invalid misc:22821   Missed beacon:0

My net and wireless config files are -

net:

Code: Select all

dhcpcd_eth0="-t 5"
config_eth0=( "dhcp" )
dhcpcd_eth0="-t 10"

and wireless:

Code: Select all

key_Abie_Home_Lan="35AD-FB9C-08 enc restricted"
preferred_aps=( "Abie Home Lan" )
channel_wlan0="11"
config_Abie_Home_Lan=( "192.168.1.91 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast 192.168.1.255" )
routes_Abie_Home_Lan=("default gw 192.168.1.1")

Why does it not start automatically?

[AbieS]

Well, I solve my problem with a hack!

There is a check in the ifconfig_add_address() function in the /lib/rcscripts/net.modules.d/ifconfig script that checks for multiple ip numbers (wlan0:0, wlan0:1 etc) that truly believes I am trying to add another ip number to my interface when in fact it does not even have the first one assigned!!

I just commented the whole pice of code that attempts to assign multiple addresses and now it works beutifully. I don't need more than one ip anyway.

Extract from /lib/rcscripts/net.modules.d:

Code: Select all

ifconfig_add_address() {
        local iface=${1} i=0

        # Extract the config
        local -a config=( "$@" )
        config=( ${config[@]:1} )
        if [[ ${config[0]} == *:* ]]; then
                # Support IPv6 - nice and simple
                config[0]="inet6 add ${config[0]}"
        else
                # IPv4 is tricky - ifconfig requires an aliased device
                # for multiple addresses
#               if ifconfig ${iface} | grep -v Scope | xargs | grep -Eq "\<addr:.*" ; then
#                       # Get the last alias made for the interface and add 1 to it
#                       i=$( ifconfig | tac | grep -m 1 -o "^${iface}:[0-9]*" | awk -F: '{ print $2 }' )
#                       i=${i:-0}
#                       (( i++ ))
#                       iface=${iface}:${i}
#               fi

                # Support iproute2 style config where possible
                config=( "${config[@]//brd/broadcast}" )
                config=( "${config[@]//peer/pointtopoint}" )
        fi

        ifconfig ${iface} ${config[@]} &>${devnull}
        return $?
}

I guess this is the price you have to pay for emerging masked packages!

Hope this helps somebody.

[UberLord]

Well, that sort of works I guess

A fix we made in baselayout-1.11.8 for a sort of unrelated bug exposed this bug.

Rest assured that this error will be fixed in baselayout-1.11.9

[menschmeier]

Thany you very much for your asdvises, but I still have the same problem.

I updated my /etc/conf.d/wireless, now it is:

Code: Select all

key_mysystem="636F-6B65-346D-6561-6E64-3475-33"
preferred_aps=( "mysystem" )

I also checked my baselayout version, it must be very new, but it is far away from 1.11.9 ...

Code: Select all

*  sys-apps/baselayout
      Latest version available: 1.9.4-r6
      Latest version installed: 1.9.4-r6

So maybe I have to try AbiS hack ... or get baselayout 1.11.9 somehow

Unfortunately I do not have an error message, the system is quite silent in this case ...
All I can see with dmesg is:

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...
ipw2100: Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2100 Network Driver, 0.56
ipw2100: Copyright(c) 2003-2004 Intel Corporation
ACPI: PCI interrupt 0000:02:02.0[A] -> GSI 5 (level, low) -> IRQ 5
ipw2100: 0000:02:02.0: Detected at mem: 0xD0200000-0xD0200FFF -> e096e000, irq: 5
eth1: Using hotplug firmware load.
eth1: Bound to 0000:02:02.0
ieee80211_crypt: registered algorithm 'WEP'
...

After I called my script wich is setting the ESSID, NICKNAME, PASSWD
this line is added to the output of dmesg:

Code: Select all

eth1: Associated with 'mysystem' at 11Mbps, channel 6 BSSID=00:00:00:00:00:00)

To me it seems that /etc/conf.d/wireless is never used by the system.
Any further ideas? Thanx!

[UberLord]

I also checked my baselayout version, it must be very new, but it is far away from 1.11.9 ...

Code: Select all

*  sys-apps/baselayout
      Latest version available: 1.9.4-r6
      Latest version installed: 1.9.4-r6

To me it seems that /etc/conf.d/wireless is never used by the system.
Any further ideas? Thanx!

The problem is that baselayout-1.11.x is masked as UNSTABLE
This is basically done by putting a ~ character infront of your ARCH
To unmask baselayout, you need to add something like

Code: Select all

sys-apps/baselayout ~x86

to /etc/portage/package.keywords - but change x86 to your ARCH (~amd64 for example)

and the /etc/conf.d/wireless is only used by baselayout-1.11.x - not any earlier versions

[menschmeier]

Ok,

I am not so experienced using an unstable package. If I unmask sys-apps/baselayout I have unmask some other sys libs too, like sys-apps/sysvinit
sys-libs/readline
and maybe more.

So I prefer waiting till these packages are declared a stable. Because my system is running well I do not like to risk getting an unstable system or worse...

But I am happy to know what the problem is. Thank you.

[McFly0]

From which package do you guys got the /etc/conf.d/wireless config-files?!

I don't have such a file although I'm looking for something like that.

[menschmeier]

Hi,
I didn't got this file by a package, I assembled its content here in the forum. But I think if you emerge the masked packed sys-apps/baselayout you will get it but I am not sure about this.
Ciao

[McFly0]

You're absolutly right with the masked package baselayout. Now I got the latest version and everything works fine